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April 6, 2012

How to Prevent Boston Child Deaths by Heatstroke

With the summer months approaching, it is important to remember that leaving a child in a car for an extended period of time can result in hyperthermia, which can lead to death by heatstroke. While it may seem common sense for a driver to make sure that no one is left in a vehicle, forgetfulness or distraction has been known to cause this tragic accident to happen.

In 2011, there were at least 33 child heatstroke deaths involving motor vehicles reported. There were at least 49 child hyperthermia fatalities in 2010. Numerous children have also survived heatstroke in hot vehicles only to suffer from blindness, hearing loss, or permanent brain injury as a result. Our Boston injury lawyers represent families whose children were hurt or died because of another party’s negligence. Remember that the person or entity responsible doesn’t need to have purposely intended to cause the injury or death.

Sometimes, a child ends up locked in a car because the vehicle was left unlocked and he/she managed to enter it while unsupervised. A harried parent may simply forget. There have also been reported incidents of transport vehicle professionals, such as the driver of a day care van, mistakenly thinking that all of the child passengers have been safely deposited at the facility or back home and failing to notice a sleeping toddler in the back seat.

• Never leave a child in a vehicle without supervision.
• Always check all the seats before locking the door and walking away.
• If a child is being transported to a childcare provider, make sure that provider knows to notify you if your son/daughter fails to make it there unless you’ve already let them know that he/she will be absent.
• Put your purse or briefcase or laptop in the back next to your child so that you have an extra reason to look back before you get out of the car.
• Lock the vehicle so that a child can’t enter and accidentally get locked in without anyone’s knowledge.